Flexible slot format indication (SFI) monitoring for new radio unlicensed communications

ABSTRACT

User equipment (UE) includes processing circuitry, where to configure the UE for New Radio (NR) communications in an unlicensed spectrum, the processing circuitry is to decode radio resource control (RRC) signaling including configuration information identifying a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) search space set. The configuration information includes a PDCCH monitoring periodicity, a PDCCH monitoring offset, and a PDCCH monitoring duration associated with the PDCCH search space set. The PDCCH search space set is monitored for downlink control information (DCI) using the PDCCH monitoring periodicity, the PDCCH monitoring offset, and the PDCCH monitoring duration. Upon detecting the DCI within the monitored PDCCH search space set, a DCI format within the DCI is decoded.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims the benefit of priority to the U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 62/653,732, filed Apr. 6, 2018, and entitled“SYSTEM AND METHODS ON FLEXIBLE SLOT FORMAT INDICATION MONITORING FORNEW RADIO UNLICENSED SYSTEM,” which patent application is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Aspects pertain to wireless communications. Some aspects relate towireless networks including 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project)networks, 3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks, 3GPP LTE-A (LTEAdvanced) networks, and fifth-generation (5G) networks including 5G newradio (NR) (or SG-NR) networks and SG-LTE networks. Other aspects aredirected to systems and methods for flexible slot format indication(SFI) for 5G-NR communication systems, including 5G-NR unlicensedcommunications.

BACKGROUND

Mobile communications have evolved significantly from early voicesystems to today's highly sophisticated integrated communicationplatform. With the increase in different types of devices communicatingwith various network devices, usage of 3GPP LTE systems has increased.The penetration of mobile devices (user equipment or UEs) in modernsociety has continued to drive demand for a wide variety of networkeddevices in a number of disparate environments. Fifth generation (5G)wireless systems are forthcoming and are expected to enable even greaterspeed, connectivity, and usability. Next generation 5G networks (or NRnetworks) are expected to increase throughput, coverage, and robustnessand reduce latency and operational and capital expenditures. 5G-NRnetworks will continue to evolve based on 3GPP LTE-Advanced withadditional potential new radio access technologies (RATs) to enrichpeople's lives with seamless wireless connectivity solutions deliveringfast, rich content and services. As current cellular network frequencyis saturated, higher frequencies, such as millimeter wave (mmWave)frequency, can be beneficial due to their high bandwidth.

Potential LTE operation in the unlicensed spectrum includes (and is notlimited to) the LTE operation in the unlicensed spectrum via dualconnectivity (DC), or DC-based LAA, and the standalone LTE system in theunlicensed spectrum, according to which LTE-based technology solelyoperates in unlicensed spectrum without requiring an “anchor” in thelicensed spectrum, called MulteFire. MulteFire combines the performancebenefits of LTE technology with the simplicity of Wi-Fi-likedeployments.

Further enhanced operation of LTE systems in the licensed as well asunlicensed spectrum is expected in future releases and 5G systems. Suchenhanced operations can include techniques to address flexible slotformat indication (SFI) monitoring within 5G-NR communication systems,such as NR communication systems operating in the unlicensed spectrum.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

In the figures, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. Like numerals havingdifferent letter suffixes may represent different instances of similarcomponents. The figures illustrate generally, by way of example, but notby way of limitation, various aspects discussed in the present document.

FIG. 1A illustrates an architecture of a network, in accordance withsome aspects.

FIG. 1B is a simplified diagram of an overall next generation (NG)system architecture, in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 1C illustrates a functional split between next generation radioaccess network (NG-RAN) and the 5G Core network (5GC), in accordancewith some aspects.

FIG. 1D illustrates an example Evolved Universal Terrestrial RadioAccess (E-UTRA) New Radio Dual Connectivity (EN-DC) architecture, inaccordance with some aspects.

FIG. 1E illustrates a non-roaming 5G system architecture in accordancewith some aspects.

FIG. 2 illustrates a monitoring duration for a physical downlink controlchannel (PDCCH), which can be used for flexible slot format indication(SFI) monitoring, in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a communication exchange between a basestation and user equipment, which can be used in connection withflexible SFI monitoring, in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a communication device such as anevolved Node-B (eNB), a new generation Node-B (gNB), an access point(AP), a wireless station (STA), a mobile station (MS), or a userequipment (UE), in accordance with some aspects.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustrateaspects to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. Otheraspects may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, andother changes. Portions and features of some aspects may be included in,or substituted for, those of other aspects. Aspects set forth in theclaims encompass all available equivalents of those claims.

FIG. 1A illustrates an architecture of a network in accordance with someaspects. The network 140A is shown to include user equipment (UE) 101and UE 102. The UEs 101 and 102 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g.,handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices connectable to one or morecellular networks) but may also include any mobile or non-mobilecomputing device, such as Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), pagers,laptop computers, desktop computers, wireless handsets, drones, or anyother computing device including a wired and/or wireless communicationsinterface. The UEs 101 and 102 can be collectively referred to herein asUE 101, and UE 101 can be used to perform one or more of the techniquesdisclosed herein.

Any of the radio links described herein (e.g., as used in the network140A or any other illustrated network) may operate according to anyexemplary radio communication technology and/or standard.

LTE and LTE-Advanced are standards for wireless communications ofhigh-speed data for UE such as mobile telephones. In LTE-Advanced andvarious wireless systems, carrier aggregation is a technology accordingto which multiple carrier signals operating on different frequencies maybe used to carry communications for a single UE, thus increasing thebandwidth available to a single device. In some aspects, carrieraggregation may be used where one or more component carriers operate onunlicensed frequencies.

There are emerging interests in the operation of LTE systems in theunlicensed spectrum. As a result, an important enhancement for LTE in3GPP Release 13 has been to enable its operation in the unlicensedspectrum via Licensed-Assisted Access (LAA), which expands the systembandwidth by utilizing the flexible carrier aggregation (CA) frameworkintroduced by the LTE-Advanced system. Rel-13 LAA system focuses on thedesign of downlink operation on unlicensed spectrum via CA, while Rel-14enhanced. LAA (eLAA) system focuses on the design of uplink operation onunlicensed spectrum via CA.

Aspects described herein can be used in the context of any spectrummanagement scheme including, for example, dedicated licensed spectrum,unlicensed spectrum, (licensed) shared spectrum (such as Licensed SharedAccess (LSA) in 2.3-2.4 GHz, 3.4-3.6 GHz, 3.6-3.8 GHz, and furtherfrequencies and Spectrum Access System (SAS) in 3.55-3.7 GHz and furtherfrequencies). Applicable exemplary spectrum bands include IMT(International Mobile Telecommunications) spectrum (including 450-470MHz, 790-960 MHz, 1710-2025 MHz, 2110-2200 MHz, 2300-2400 MHz, 2500-2690MHz, 698-790 MHz, 610-790 MHz, 3400-3600 MHz, to name a few),IMT-advanced spectrum, IMT-2020 spectrum (expected to include 3600-3800MHz, 3.5 GHz bands, 700 MHz bands, bands within the 24.25-86 GHz range,for example), spectrum made available under the Federal CommunicationsCommission's “Spectrum Frontier” 5G initiative (including 27.5-28.35GHz, 29.1-29.25 GHz, 31-31.3 GHz, 37-38.6 GHz, 38.6-40 GHz, 42-42.5 GHz,57-64 GHz, 71-76 GHz, 81-86 GHz and 92-94 GHz, etc), the ITS(Intelligent Transport Systems) band of 5.9 GHz (typically 5.85-5.925GHz) and 63-64 GHz, bands currently allocated to WiGig such as WiGigBand 1 (57.24-59.40 GHz), WiGig Band 2 (59.40-61.56 GHz), WiGig Band 3(61.56-63.72 GHz), and WiGig Band 4 (63.72-65.88 GHz); the 70.2 GHz-71GHz band; any band between 65.88 GHz and 71 GHz; bands currentlyallocated to automotive radar applications such as 76-81 GHz; and futurebands including 94-300 GHz and above. Furthermore, the scheme can beused on a secondary basis on bands such as the TV White Space bands(typically below 790 MHz) wherein particular the 400 MHz and 700 MHzbands can be employed. Besides cellular applications, specificapplications for vertical markets may be addressed, such as PMSE(Program Making and Special Events), medical, health, surgery,automotive, low-latency, drones, and the like.

Aspects described herein can also be applied to different Single Carrieror OFDM flavors (CP-OFDM, SC-FDMA, SC-OFDM, filter bank-basedmulticarrier (FBMC), OFDMA, etc.) and in particular 3GPP NR (New Radio)by allocating the OFDM carrier data bit vectors to the correspondingsymbol resources.

In some aspects, any of the UEs 101 and 102 can comprise anInternet-of-Things (IoT) UE or a Cellular IoT (CIoT) UE, which cancomprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applicationsutilizing short-lived UE connections. In some aspects, any of the UEs101 and 102 can include a narrowband (NB) IoT UE (e.g., such as anenhanced NB-IoT (eNB-IoT) UE and Further Enhanced (FeNB-IoT) UE). An IoTUE can utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) ormachine-type communications (MTC) for exchanging data with an MTC serveror device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), Proximity-BasedService (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, sensornetworks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be amachine-initiated exchange of data. An IoT network includesinterconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiableembedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), withshort-lived connections. The MT UEs may execute background applications(e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate theconnections of the IoT network.

In some aspects, NB-IoT devices can be configured to operate in a singlephysical resource block (PRB) and may be instructed to retune twodifferent PRBs within the system bandwidth. In some aspects, an eNB-IoTUE can be configured to acquire system information in one PRB, and thenit can retune to a different PRB to receive or transmit data.

In some aspects, any of the UEs 101 and 102 can include enhanced MTC(eMTC) UEs or further enhanced MTC (FeMTC) UEs.

The UEs 101 and 102 may be configured to connect, e.g., communicativelycouple, with a radio access network (RAN) 110. The RAN 110 may be, forexample, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a NextGen RAN (NG RAN), orsome other type of RAN. The UEs 101 and 102 utilize connections 103 and104, respectively, each of which comprises a physical communicationsinterface or layer (discussed in further detail below); in this example,the connections 103 and 104 are illustrated as an air interface toenable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellularcommunications protocols, such as a Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM) protocol, a code-division multiple access (CDMA)network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular(POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation(5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and the like.

In some aspects, the network 140A can include a core network (CN) 120.Various aspects of NG RAN and NG Core are discussed herein in referenceto, e.g., FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C, FIG. 1D, and FIG. 1E.

In an aspect, the UEs 101 and 102 may further directly exchangecommunication data via a ProSe interface 105. The ProSe interface 105may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface comprising oneor more logical channels, including but not limited to a PhysicalSidelink Control Channel (PSDCH), a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel(PSDCH), a Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel (PSDCH), and a PhysicalSidelink Broadcast Channel (PSDCH).

The UE 102 is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP) 106via connection 107. The connection 107 can comprise a local wirelessconnection, such as, for example, a connection consistent with any IEEE802.11 protocol, according to which the AP 106 can comprise a wirelessfidelity (WiFi®) router. In this example, the AP 106 is shown to beconnected to the Internet without connecting to the core network of thewireless system (described in further detail below).

The RAN 110 can include one or more access nodes that enable theconnections 103 and 104. These access nodes (ANs) can be referred to asbase stations (BSs), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), Next GenerationNodeBs (gNBs), RAN nodes, and the like, and can comprise ground stations(e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providingcoverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). In some aspects, thecommunication nodes 111 and 112 can be transmission/reception points(TRPs). In instances when the communication nodes 111 and 112 are NodeBs(e.g., eNBs or gNBs), one or more TRPs can function within thecommunication cell of the NodeBs. The RAN 110 may include one or moreRAN nodes for providing macrocells, e.g., macro RAN node 111, and one ormore RAN nodes for providing femtocells or picocells (e.g., cells havingsmaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidthcompared to macrocells), e.g., low power (LP) RAN node 112.

Any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 can terminate the air interfaceprotocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs 101 and 102.In some aspects, any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 can fulfill variouslogical functions for the RAN 110 including, but not limited to, radionetwork controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management,uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packetscheduling, and mobility management. In an example, any of the nodes 111and/or 112 can be a new generation node-B (gNB), an evolved node-B(eNB), or another type of RAN node.

In accordance with some aspects, the UEs 101 and 102 can be configuredto communicate using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM)communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 111and 112 over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance variouscommunication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an OrthogonalFrequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication technique(e.g., for downlink communications) or a Single Carrier FrequencyDivision Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) communication technique (e.g., foruplink and ProSe for sidelink communications), although such aspects arenot required. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonalsubcarriers.

In some aspects, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlinktransmissions from any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 to the UEs 101 and102, while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The gridcan be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequencyresource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in eachslot. Such a time-frequency plane representation may be used for OFDMsystems, which makes it applicable for radio resource allocation. Eachcolumn and each row of the resource grid may correspond to one OFDMsymbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of theresource grid in the time domain may correspond to one slot in a radioframe. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid may bedenoted as a resource element. Each resource grid may comprise a numberof resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physicalchannels to resource elements. Each resource block may comprise acollection of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may, insome aspects, represent the smallest quantity of resources thatcurrently can be allocated. There may be several different physicaldownlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks.

The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data andhigher-layer signaling to the UEs 101 and 102. The physical downlinkcontrol channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport formatand resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among otherthings. It may also inform the UEs 101 and 102 about the transportformat, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request)information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlinkscheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to theUE 102 within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes 111 and112 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs101 and 102. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent onthe PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 101 and 102.

The PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the controlinformation. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCHcomplex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, whichmay then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching.Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, whereeach CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elementsknown as resource element groups (REGs). Four Quadrature Phase ShiftKeying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can betransmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of thedownlink control information (DCI) and the channel condition. There canbe four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with differentnumbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

Some aspects may use concepts for resource allocation for controlchannel information that are an extension of the above-describedconcepts. For example, some aspects may utilize an enhanced physicaldownlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for controlinformation transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one ormore enhanced control channel elements (ECCEs). Similar to above, eachECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elementsknown as an enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). An ECCE may haveother numbers of EREGs according to some arrangements.

The RAN 110 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network(CN) 120 via an S1 interface 113. In aspects, the CN 120 may be anevolved packet core (EPC) network, a NextGen Packet Core (NPC) network,or some other type of CN (e.g., as illustrated in reference to FIGS.1B-1I). In this aspect, the S1 interface 113 is split into two parts:the S1-U interface 114, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes111 and 112 and the serving gateway (S-GW) 122, and the S1-mobilitymanagement entity (MME) interface 115, which is a signaling interfacebetween the RAN nodes 111 and 112 and MMEs 121.

In this aspect, the CN 120 comprises the MMEs 121, the S-GW 122, thePacket Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) 123, and a home subscriberserver (HSS) 124. The MMEs 121 may be similar in function to the controlplane of legacy Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) SupportNodes (SGSN). The MMEs 121 may manage mobility aspects in access such asgateway selection and tracking area list management. The HSS 124 maycomprise a database for network users, including subscription-relatedinformation to support the network entities' handling of communicationsessions. The CN 120 may comprise one or several HSSs 124, depending onthe number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, onthe organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 124 canprovide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization,naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc.

The S-GW 122 may terminate the S1 interface 113 towards the RAN 110, androutes data packets between the RAN 110 and the CN 120. In addition, theS-GW 122 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN nodehandovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Otherresponsibilities of the S-GW 122 may include a lawful intercept,charging, and some policy enforcement.

The P-GW 123 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN. The P-GW 123may route data packets between the EPC network 120 and external networkssuch as a network including the application server 184 (alternativelyreferred to as application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP)interface 125. The P-GW 123 can also communicate data to other externalnetworks 131A, which can include the Internet, IP multimedia subsystem(IPS) network, and other networks. Generally, the application server 184may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resourceswith the core network (e.g., UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PSdata services, etc.). In this aspect, the P-GW 123 is shown to becommunicatively coupled to an application server 184 via an IP interface125. The application server 184 can also be configured to support one ormore communication services (e.g., Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP))sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networkingservices, etc.) for the UEs 101 and 102 via the CN 120.

The P-GW 123 may further be a node for policy enforcement and chargingdata collection. Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) 126 is thepolicy and charging control element of the CN 120. In a non-roamingscenario, in some aspects, there may be a single PCRF in the Home PublicLand Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE's Internet ProtocolConnectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario witha local breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with aUE's IP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within an HPLMN and a VisitedPCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). ThePCRF 126 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 184via the P-GW 123. The application server 184 may signal the PCRF 126 toindicate a new service flow and select the appropriate Quality ofService (QoS) and charging parameters. The PCRF 126 may provision thisrule into a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown)with the appropriate traffic flow template (TFT) and QoS class ofidentifier (QCI), which commences the QoS and charging as specified bythe application server 184.

In an example, any of the nodes 111 or 112 can be configured tocommunicate to the UEs 101, 102 (e.g., dynamically) an antenna panelselection and a receive (Rx) beam selection that can be used by the UEfor data reception on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) as wellas for channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) measurementsand channel state information (CSI) calculation.

In an example, any of the nodes 111 or 112 can be configured tocommunicate to the UEs 101, 102 (e.g., dynamically) an antenna panelselection and a transmit (Tx) beam selection that can be used by the UEfor data transmission on a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) aswell as for sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission.

In some aspects, the communication network 140A can be an IoT network.One of the current enablers of IoT is the narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT).NB-IoT has objectives such as coverage extension, UE complexityreduction, long battery lifetime, and backward compatibility with theLTE network. In addition, NB-IoT aims to offer deployment flexibilityallowing an operator to introduce NB-IoT using a small portion of itsexisting available spectrum, and operate in one of the following threemodalities: (a) standalone deployment (the network operates in re-farmedGSM spectrum); (b) in-band deployment (the network operates within theLTE channel); and (c) guard-band deployment (the network operates in theguard band of legacy LTE channels). In some aspects, such as withfurther enhanced NB-IoT (FeNB-IoT), support for NB-IoT in small cellscan be provided (e.g., in microcell, picocell or femtocell deployments).One of the challenges NB-IoT systems face for small cell support is theUL/DL link imbalance, where for small cells the base stations have lowerpower available compared to macro-cells, and, consequently, the DLcoverage can be affected and/or reduced. In addition, some NB-IoT UEscan be configured to transmit at maximum power if repetitions are usedfor UL transmission. This may result in large inter-cell interference indense small cell deployments.

In some aspects, the UE 101 can support connectivity to a 5G corenetwork (5GCN) and can be configured to operate with Early DataTransmission (EDT) in a communication architecture that supports one ormore of Machine Type Communications (MTC), enhanced MTC (eMTC), furtherenhanced MTC (feMTC), even further enhanced MTC (efeMTC), and narrowbandInternet-of-Things (NB-IoT) communications. When operating with EDT, aphysical random access channel (PRACH) procedure message 3 (MSG3) can beused to carry the short uplink (UL) data and PRACH procedure message 4(MSG4) can be used to carry short downlink (DL) data (if any isavailable). When a UE wants to make a new RRC connection, it firsttransmits one or more preambles, which can be referred to as PRACHprocedure message 1 (MSG1). The MSG4 can also indicate UE to immediatelygo to IDLE mode. For this purpose, the transport block size (TBS)scheduled by the UL grant received for the MSG3 to transmit UL data forEDT needs to be larger than the TBS scheduled by the legacy grant. Insome aspects, the UE can indicate its intention of using the early datatransmission via MSG1 using a separate PRACH resource partition. FromMSG1, eNB knows that it has to provide a grant scheduling TBS valuesthat may differ from legacy TBS for MSG3 in the random-access response(RAR or MSG2) so that the UE can transmit UL data in MSG3 for EDT.However, the eNB may not exactly know what would be the size of UL datathe UE wants to transmit for EDT and how large a UL grant for MSG3 wouldbe needed, though a minimum and a maximum TBS for the UL grant could bedefined. The following two scenarios may occur: (a) The UL grantprovided in RAR is larger than the UL data plus header. In this case,layer 1 needs to add one or more padding bits in the remaining grant.However, transmitting a large number of padding bits (or useless bits)is not power efficient especially in deep coverage where a larger numberof repetitions of transmission is required. (b) Similarly, when the ULgrant provided in RAR is large but falls short to accommodate the ULdata for the EDT, the UE may have to send only the legacy RRC message tofallback to legacy RRC connection. In this case, UE may again need totransmit a number of padding bits, which can be inefficient.

As used herein, the term “PRACH procedure” can be used interchangeablywith the term “Random Access procedure” or “RA procedure”.

In some aspects associated with NR communication systems, the UE can beconfigured by higher layer signaling for monitoring a physical downlinkcontrol channel (PDCCH) (e.g., a group common PDCCH) conveying downlinkcontrol information (DCI) (e.g., format 2_0 DCI), which can be used toindicate dynamic slot format indication (SFI) for one or more cells andslots. In particular, the payload size of the DCI format 2_0 can beconfigured by higher layer signaling. Furthermore, the monitoringperiodicity of group common PDCCH can also be configured by higherlayers and can depend on the subcarrier spacing. For instance, for 15kHz subcarrier spacing, the monitoring periodicity of group common PDCCHcan be 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 slots.

One of the motivations to introduce group common PDCCH is to allow thegNB to indicate the slot format dynamically (e.g., using SFI in theDCI). In a case when the slot during the periodicity of group commonPDCCH monitoring is indicated as full uplink (UL) slot, the UE may skipthe monitoring of PDCCH in the corresponding slots, which can help toreduce the UE power consumption.

In LTE LAA systems, listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure is based onenergy detection (ED) principles and relies fundamentally on the eNBacquiring a channel occupancy time (COT) for downlink transmission. Foran NR system operating on an unlicensed band, the gNB may first need toperform LBT and if the channel is idle based on the outcome of channelsensing, the gNB may transmit the group common PDCCH carrying thedynamic SFI. As there is a single transmission opportunity of groupcommon PDCCH during the monitoring periodicity, in case of longerperiodicity (e.g., 10 or 20 slots for 15 kHz subcarrier spacing), if thechannel is sensed as busy on the transmission opportunity, the gNB mayneed to wait for the next opportunity for the transmission of groupcommon PDCCH, which may not be desirable in terms of UE power saving. Toaddress this issue, certain mechanisms on flexible slot formatindication monitoring for NR unlicensed system are disclosed herein andmay be used in NR communication systems, such as NR systems withcommunications in the unlicensed spectrum.

In some aspects and as described hereinbelow in connection with FIG. 2and FIG. 3, UE 101 can be configured for flexible SFI monitoringreceived via DCI in PDCCH. In this regard, UE 101 can initially receivePDCCH configuration information 190A from the gNB (e.g., 111). The PDCCHconfiguration information 190A can include information identifying aPDCCH search space set, which can include PDCCH monitoring periodicity,PDCCH monitoring offset, PDCCH monitoring duration associated with thesearch space set, a search space set identification index, a PDCCHmonitoring pattern within a slot indicating first symbol or symbols of acontrol resource set (CORESET) within a slot of the PDCCH monitoringduration. In aspects, the PDCCH monitoring duration (or PDCCH monitoringwindow) can include more than one slots, with each slot including one ormore monitoring occasions for monitoring PDCCH with SFI. In this regard,gNB 111 can use more than one transmission occasion within more than oneslots as indicated by the PDCCH monitoring duration for flexible SFItransmission. In response to a detected SFI, UE 101 can perform oneuplink transmission 192A using, e.g., an uplink resource such as a slotindicated by the SFI as an uplink slot. Additionally, when the SFIindicates resources as uplink resources, UE can discontinue monitoringof PDCCH in the corresponding resources, which can reduce UE powerconsumption.

FIG. 1B is a simplified diagram of a next generation (NG) systemarchitecture 140B in accordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG. 1B,the NG system architecture 140B includes RAN 110 and a 5G network core(5GC) 120. The NG-RAN 110 can include a plurality of nodes, such as gNBs128 and NG-eNBs 130.

The core network 120 (e.g., a 5G core network or 5GC) can include anaccess and mobility function (AMF) 132 and/or a user plane function(UPF) 134. The AMF 132 and the UPF 134 can be communicatively coupled tothe gNBs 128 and the NG-eNBs 130 via NG interfaces. More specifically,in some aspects, the gNBs 128 and the NG-eNBs 130 can be connected tothe AMF 132 by NG-C interfaces, and to the UPF 134 by NG-U interfaces.The gNBs 128 and the NG-eNBs 130 can be coupled to each other via Xninterfaces.

In some aspects, a gNB 128 can include a node providing new radio (NR)user plane and control plane protocol termination towards the UE and isconnected via the NG interface to the 5GC 120. In some aspects, anNG-eNB 130 can include a node providing evolved universal terrestrialradio access (E-UTRA) user plane and control plane protocol terminationstowards the UE and is connected via the NG interface to the SGC 120.

In some aspects, the NG system architecture 140B can use referencepoints between various nodes as provided by 3GPP Technical Specification(TS) 23.501 (e.g., V15.4.0, 2018-12).

In some aspects, each of the gNBs 128 and the NG-eNBs 130 can beimplemented as a base station, a mobile edge server, a small cell, ahome eNB, and so forth.

In some aspects, node 128 can be a master node (MN) and node 130 can bea secondary node (SN) in a 5G architecture. The MN 128 can be connectedto the AMF 132 via an NG-C interface and to the SN 128 via an XN-Cinterface. The MN 128 can be connected to the UPF 134 via an NG-Uinterface and to the SN 128 via an XN-U interface.

FIG. 1C illustrates a functional split between NG-RAN and the 5G Core(5GC) in accordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG. 1C, there isillustrated a more detailed diagram of the functionalities that can beperformed by the gNBs 128 and the NG-eNBs 130 within the NG-RAN 110, aswell as the AMF 132, the UPF 134, and the SMF 136 within the 5GC 120. Insome aspects, the 5GC 120 can provide access to the Internet 138 to oneor more devices via the NG-RAN 110.

In some aspects, the gNBs 128 and the NG-eNBs 130 can be configured tohost the following functions: functions for Radio Resource Management(e.g., inter-cell radio resource management 129A, radio bearer control129B, connection mobility control 129C, radio admission control 129D,dynamic allocation of resources to UEs in both uplink and downlink(scheduling) 129F), IP header compression, encryption and integrityprotection of data; selection of an AMF at UE attachment when no routingto an AMF can be determined from the information provided by the UE;routing of User Plane data towards UPF(s); routing of Control Planeinformation towards AMF; connection setup and release; scheduling andtransmission of paging messages (originated from the ANF); schedulingand transmission of system broadcast information (originated from theAMF or Operation and Maintenance); measurement and measurement reportingconfiguration for mobility and scheduling 129E; transport level packetmarking in the uplink; session management; support of network slicing;QoS flow management and mapping to data radio bearers; support of UEs inRRC_INACTIVE state; distribution function for non-access stratum (NAS)messages; radio access network sharing; dual connectivity; and tightinterworking between NR and E-UTRA, to name a few.

In some aspects, the AMF 132 can be configured to host the followingfunctions, for example: NAS signaling termination; NAS signalingsecurity 133A; access stratum (AS) security control; inter-core network(CN) node signaling for mobility between 3GPP access networks; idlestate/mode mobility handling 133B, including mobile device, such as a UEreachability (e.g., control and execution of paging retransmission);registration area management; support of intra-system and inter-systemmobility; access authentication; access authorization including check ofroaming rights; mobility management control (subscription and policies);support of network slicing; and/or SMF selection, among other functions.

The UPF 134 can be configured to host the following functions, forexample: mobility anchoring 135A (e.g., anchor point forIntra-/Inter-RAT mobility); packet data unit (PDU) handling 135B (e.g.,external PDU session point of interconnect to data network); packetrouting and forwarding; packet inspection and user plane part of policyrule enforcement; traffic usage reporting; uplink classifier to supportrouting traffic flows to a data network; branching point to supportmulti-homed PDU session; QoS handling for user plane, e.g., packetfiltering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement; uplink traffic verification(SDF to QoS flow mapping); and/or downlink packet buffering and downlinkdata notification triggering, among other functions.

The Session Management function (SME) 136 can be configured to host thefollowing functions, for example: session management; UE IP addressallocation and management 137A; selection and control of user planefunction (UPF); PDU session control 137B, including configuring trafficsteering at UPF 134 to route traffic to proper destination; control partof policy enforcement and QoS; and/or downlink data notification, amongother functions.

FIG. 1D illustrates an example Evolved Universal Terrestrial RadioAccess (E-UTRA) New Radio Dual Connectivity (EN-DC) architecture, inaccordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG. 1D the EN-DCarchitecture 140D includes radio access network (or E-TRA network, orE-TRAN) 110 and EPC 120. The EPC 120 can include MMES 121 and S-GWs 122.The E-UTRAN 110 can include nodes 111 (e.g., eNBs) as well as EvolvedUniversal Terrestrial Radio Access New Radio (EN) next generationevolved Node-Bs (en-gNBs) 128.

In some aspects, en-gNBs 128 can be configured to provide NR user planeand control plane protocol terminations towards the UE 102 and acting asSecondary Nodes (or SgNBs) in the EN-DC communication architecture 140D.The eNBs 111 can be configured as master nodes (or MeNBs) and the eNBs128 can be configured as secondary nodes (or SgNBs) in the EN-DCcommunication architecture 140D. As illustrated in FIG. 1D, the eNBs 111are connected to the EPC 120 via the S1 interface and to the EN-gNBs 128via the X2 interface. The EN-gNBs (or SgNBs) 128 may be connected to theEPC 120 via the S1-U interface, and to other EN-gNBs via the X2-Uinterface. The SgNB 128 can communicate with the UE 102 via a UUinterface (e.g., using signaling radio bearer type 3, or SRB3communications as illustrated in FIG. 1D), and with the MeNB 111 via anX2 interface (e.g., X2-C interface). The MeNB 111 can communicate withthe UE 102 via a UU interface.

Even though FIG. 1D is described in connection with EN-DC communicationenvironment, other types of dual connectivity communicationarchitectures (e.g., when the HE 102 is connected to a master node and asecondary node) can also use the techniques disclosed herein.

In some aspects, the MeNB 111 can be connected to the MME 121 viaS1-MIME interface and to the SgNB 128 via an X2-C interface. In someaspects, the MeNB 111 can be connected to the SGW 122 via S1-U interfaceand to the SgNB 128 via an X2-U interface. In some aspects associatedwith dual connectivity (DC) and/or MultiRate-DC (MR-DC), the Master eNB(MeNB) can offload user plane traffic to the Secondary gNB (SgNB) viasplit bearer or SCG (Secondary Cell Group) split bearer.

FIG. 1E illustrates a non-roaming 5G system architecture in accordancewith some aspects. Referring to FIG. 1E, there is illustrated a 5Gsystem architecture 140E in a reference point representation. Morespecifically, UE 102 can be in communication with RAN 110 as well as oneor more other 5G core (5GC) network entities. The 5G system architecture140E includes a plurality of network functions (NFs), such as access andmobility management function (AMF) 132, session management function(SMF) 136, policy control function (PCF) 148, application function (AF)150, user plane function (UPF) 134, network slice selection function(NSSF) 142, authentication server function (AUSF) 144, and unified datamanagement (UDM)/home subscriber server (HSS) 146. The UPF 134 canprovide a connection to a data network (DN) 152, which can include, forexample, operator services, Internet access, or third-party services.The AMF 132 can be used to manage access control and mobility and canalso include network slice selection functionality. The SMF 136 can beconfigured to set up and manage various sessions according to a networkpolicy. The UPF 134 can be deployed in one or more configurationsaccording to a desired service type. The PCF 148 can be configured toprovide a policy framework using network slicing, mobility management,and roaming (similar to PCRF in a 4G communication system). The UDM canbe configured to store subscriber profiles and data (similar to an HSSin a 4G communication system).

In some aspects, the 5G system architecture 140E includes an IPmultimedia subsystem (IMS) 168E as well as a plurality of IP multimediacore network subsystem entities, such as call session control functions(CSCFs). More specifically, the IMS 168E includes a CSCF, which can actas a proxy CSCF (P-CSCF) 162E, a serving CSCF (S-CSCF) 164E, anemergency CSCF (E-CSCF) (not illustrated in FIG. 1E), or interrogatingCSCF (I-CSCF) 166E. The P-CSCF 162E can be configured to be the firstcontact point for the UE 102 within the IM subsystem (IMS) 168E. TheS-CSCF 164E can be configured to handle the session states in thenetwork, and the E-CSCF can be configured to handle certain aspects ofemergency sessions such as routing an emergency request to the correctemergency center or PS AP. The I-CSCF 166E can be configured to functionas the contact point within an operator's network for all LMSconnections destined to a subscriber of that network operator, or aroaming subscriber currently located within that network operator'sservice area. In some aspects, the I-CSCF 166E can be connected toanother IP multimedia network 170E, e.g. an IMS operated by a differentnetwork operator.

In some aspects, the UDM/HSS 146 can be coupled to an application server160E, which can include a telephony application server (TAS) or anotherapplication server (AS). The AS 160E can be coupled to the IMS 168E viathe S-CSCF 164E or the I-CSCF 166E. In some aspects, the 5G systemarchitecture 140E can use unified access barring mechanism using one ormore of the techniques described herein, which access barring mechanismcan be applied for all RRC states of the UE 102, such as RRC_IDLE,RRC_CONNECTED, and RRC_INACTIVE states.

In some aspects, the 5G system architecture 140E can be configured touse 5G access control mechanism techniques described herein, based onaccess categories that can be categorized by a minimum default set ofaccess categories, which are common across all networks. Thisfunctionality can allow the public land mobile network PLMN, such as avisited PLMN (VPLMN) to protect the network against different types ofregistration attempts, enable acceptable service for the roamingsubscriber and enable the VPLMN to control access attempts aiming atreceiving certain basic services. It also provides more options andflexibility to individual operators by providing a set of accesscategories, which can be configured and used in operator-specific ways.

A reference point representation shows that interaction can existbetween corresponding NF services. For example, FIG. 1E illustrates thefollowing reference points: N1 (between the UE 102 and the AMF 132), N2(between the RAN 110 and the AMF 132), N3 (between the RAN 110 and theUPF 134), N4 (between the SMF 136 and the UPF 134), N5 (between the PCF148 and the AF 150, not shown), N6 (between the UPF 134 and the DN 152),N7 (between the SMF 136 and the PCF 148, not shown), N8 (between the UDM146 and the AMF 132, not shown), N9 (between two UPFs 134, not shown),N10 (between the UDM 146 and the SMF 136, not shown), N11 (between theAMF 132 and the SMF 136, not shown), N12 (between the AUSF 144 and theAMF 132, not shown), N13 (between the AUSF 144 and the UDM 146, notshown), N14 (between two AMFs 132, not shown), N15 (between the PCF 148and the AMF 132 in case of a non-roaming scenario, or between the PCF148 and a visited network and AMF 132 in case of a roaming scenario, notshown), N16 (between two SMFs, not shown), and N22 (between AMF 132 andNSSF 142, not shown). Other reference point representations not shown inFIG. 1E can also be used.

FIG. 2 illustrates a diagram 200 of a monitoring duration for a physicaldownlink control channel (PDCCH), which can be used for flexible slotformat indication (SFI) monitoring, in accordance with some aspects.Referring to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a plurality of monitoringdurations (or monitoring windows) 202 and 204 with monitoringperiodicity 206, which can be used by the UE 1012 monitor for PDCCHtransmissions. In some aspects, the monitoring durations, such asmonitoring duration 202, can include more than one slots. For example,monitoring duration 202 includes slots 208 and 210 with multiplemonitoring occasions. As illustrated in FIG. 2, slot 208 includesmonitoring occasions 212 and 214, and slot 210 includes monitoringoccasions 216 and 218. In this regards, after performing an LBT, gNB 111may transmit the group common PDCCH or another type of PDCCH in any ofthe four monitoring occasions 212, 214, 216, and 218, when the LBT hassucceeded.

In some aspects, a monitoring duration (or window) 202 may be configuredwithin a monitoring periodicity (e.g., 206) for the transmission ofgroup common PDCCH (or another type of PDCCH) carrying dynamic SFI.Within the monitoring duration 202, one or more monitoring occasions ofgroup common PDCCH may be defined. For example, monitoring duration 202includes a total of four monitoring occasions of PDCCH. In some aspects,higher layer signaling can be used to configure the monitoring occasionsby specifying symbol level monitoring periodicity (e.g., a PDCCHmonitoring pattern within a slot, indicating the first symbol or symbolsof the CORESET within the slot for PDCCH monitoring). In some aspects,the monitoring occasions within a slot can be specified by a bitmap,which can be configured by higher layers via. NR minimum systeminformation (MSI), NR remaining minimum system information (RMSI), NRother system information (OSI), or radio resource control (RRC)signaling.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, a PDCCH monitoring duration 202 configurationmay be described by a monitoring duration (e.g., a search space setindex identifying a search space set associated with the monitoringduration 202), monitoring periodicity 206, a monitoring offset, and aset of monitoring occasions in a monitored slot. Such PDCCHconfiguration information can be communicated to the UE as higher layersignaling (e.g., as signaling 190A).

A monitoring duration 202 may be described by a contiguous set ofmonitored slots (e.g., 208 and 210). A monitoring periodicity 206 may bedescribed as the periodicity of the start of the monitoring duration anddefined in terms of a number of slots. A monitoring offset may bedescribed by a certain number of slots. A monitoring duration may becomprised of consecutive number of slots within the monitoringperiodicity. A monitoring occasion within a monitored slot may bedescribed by a starting symbol location of the associated CORESET (e.g.,monitoring occasion 212 can be described as starting with symbol one ofslot 208). Multiple monitoring occasions (e.g., 212 and 214) can bedefined within a monitored slot (e.g., 208). In some aspects, twoconsecutive monitoring occasions can be defined in two consecutive OFDMsymbols.

In some aspects, UE 101 may be configured with multiple PDCCH monitoringwindow configurations. A default PDCCH monitoring window configurationmay be specified. Group common PDCCH (GC-PDCCH) can be used fordynamically switching the PDCCH monitoring window configuration for agroup of UEs. The validity of a dynamically configured PDCCH monitoringwindow configuration may also be limited by one or more parameters, suchas the Maximum Channel Occupancy Time (MOOT). A PDCCH monitoring windowconfiguration can be applicable to a set of search spaces that a UE issupposed to monitor.

In some aspects, a monitoring duration (e.g., 202) for PDCCH (i.e., DCIformat 2_0), or for any other DCI format, or for a search space set, canbe defined over a set of configured monitoring occasions. For such acase, the UE can be configured with a monitoring duration usingperiodicity and offset in terms of absolute time-slots or subframes orin terms of the monitoring occasions for the corresponding DCI format orsearch space set. In this regard, different search spaces can beassociated with different monitoring occasions within a monitoringduration. Accordingly, the UE can be expected to monitor for the DCIformat or search space set only in those monitoring occasions that fallwithin the configured monitoring window. In addition, or as analternative, if the UE detects a valid PDCCH (e.g., DCI format 2_0 inGC-PDCCH or any other DCI format as configured), the UE may skipmonitoring for GC-PDCCH or the search space set, etc., for the remainingmonitoring occasions within the corresponding monitoring window.

In some aspects, as yet another alternative to the configuration ofmonitoring durations, the UE can be configured with a short monitoringperiodicity (e.g., 1 or 2 slot periodicity) for GC-PDCCH (DCI format2_0), implying frequent monitoring of GC-PDCCH. If a UE detects an SFIindicating slot format for a number of slots that is larger than themonitoring periodicity, the UE may skip monitoring for GC-PDCCH untilthe first monitoring occasion that occurs after the indicated number ofslots for which the slot format is indicated by SFI. The number of slotsthat a single SFI indication can correspond depends on the rows of theSFI combination table that is configured by higher layer signaling (viaparameter SFI-set), and a single configuration can include differentnumbers of slots that the SFI may indicate. Thus, with appropriateconfiguration of the length of SFI combinations, the gNB may dynamicallytrade-off between “short” and “long” SFI values and correspondingly, thefrequency of UE monitoring as per the deployment and LBTcharacteristics.

Even though GC-PDCCH is discussed in connection with the techniquesdisclosed herein, the disclosure is not limited in this regard and thesame disclosed techniques can be used for other PDCCH types, such ascommon search space (CSS) PDCCH or UE-specific search space (USS orUESS) PDCCH.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a communication exchange 300 between abase station and user equipment, which can be used in connection withflexible SFI monitoring, in accordance with some aspects. Referring toFIG. 3, the communication exchange 300 can be between UE 304 (or 101)and a base station or a gNB 302 (or 111). At operation 306, base station302 can communicate RRC signaling 308 which can include PDCCHconfiguration information 310. The PDCCH configuration information 310can be the same as configuration information 190A and can includeinformation identifying a PDCCH search space set, such as PDCCHmonitoring periodicity, PDCCH monitoring offset, PDCCH monitoringduration associated with the search space set, a search space setidentification index, a PDCCH monitoring pattern within a slotindicating first symbol or symbols of a CORESET within a slot of thePDCCH monitoring duration.

At operation 312, UE 304 can monitor for PDCCH transmission occasionsbased on the received PDCCH configuration 310. At operation 314, basestation 302 can perform an LBT procedure to acquire a Channel OccupancyTime (COT) for downlink transmission. After a successful LBT procedure,at operation 316, base station 302 can transmit DCI 318 using PDCCH andwithin a PDCCH monitoring occasion as configured by configurationinformation 310. DCI 318 can include SFI 320, which can indicate one ormore resources granted to the UE to use for uplink communication ordownlink reception. At operation 322, UE 304 can skip monitoring ofPDCCH if the SFI indicates an uplink slot resource. At operation 324, UE304 can use the indicated uplink resource and transmit uplink data via aphysical uplink shared channel based on the SFI indication of an uplinkslot resource.

In some aspects, if LBT succeeds before the monitoring occasion starts,the gNB may transmit a cyclic prefix (CP) extension until the boundaryof the monitoring occasion in order to prevent from releasing the COT,which might be consequently taken by other devices. In some aspects, theLBT is performed starting from the boundary of each monitoring occasion,and group common PDCCH transmission is performed right after the LBTsucceeds. If LBT finishes within a symbol, the symbol can be filled withextended CP.

In some aspects, a presence detection signal is appended at thebeginning of each group common PDCCH transmission, in order to helpdetermine its starting position. In some aspects, given a monitoringduration, the gNB can perform transmission of PDCCH carrying dynamic SFIat any time when LBT succeeds within the monitoring duration. In orderto facilitate blind decoding from the UE perspective, a presencedetection signal can be appended before each PDCCH transmissions. Insome aspects, once a PDCCH transmission is successfully decoded by theUE, the UE does not need to monitor the rest of the monitoring window.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a communication device such as anevolved Node-B (eNB), a next generation Node-B (gNB), an access point(AP), a wireless station (STA), a mobile station (MS), or a userequipment (UE), in accordance with some aspects and to perform one ormore of the techniques disclosed herein. In alternative aspects, thecommunication device 400 may operate as a standalone device or may beconnected (e.g., networked) to other communication devices.

Circuitry (e.g., processing circuitry) is a collection of circuitsimplemented intangible entities of the device 400 that include hardware(e.g., simple circuits, gates, logic, etc.). Circuitry membership may beflexible over time. Circuitries include members that may, alone or incombination, perform specified operations when operating. In an example,the hardware of the circuitry may be immutably designed to carry out aspecific operation (e.g., hardwired). In an example, the hardware of thecircuitry may include variably connected physical components (e.g.,execution units, transistors, simple circuits, etc.) including amachine-readable medium physically modified (e.g., magnetically,electrically, moveable placement of invariant massed particles, etc.) toencode instructions of the specific operation.

In connecting the physical components, the underlying electricalproperties of a hardware constituent are changed, for example, from aninsulator to a conductor or vice versa. The instructions enable embeddedhardware (e.g., the execution units or a loading mechanism) to createmembers of the circuitry in hardware via the variable connections tocarry out portions of the specific operation when in operation.Accordingly, in an example, the machine-readable medium elements arepart of the circuitry or are communicatively coupled to the othercomponents of the circuitry when the device is operating. In an example,any of the physical components may be used in more than one member ofmore than one circuitry. For example, under operation, execution unitsmay be used in a first circuit of a first circuitry at one point in timeand reused by a second circuit in the first circuitry, or by a thirdcircuit in a second circuitry at a different time. Additional examplesof these components with respect to the device 400 follow.

In some aspects, the device 400 may operate as a standalone device ormay be connected (e.g., networked) to other devices. In a networkeddeployment, the communication device 400 may operate in the capacity ofa server communication device, a client communication device, or both inserver-client network environments. In an example, the communicationdevice 400 may act as a peer communication device in peer-to-peer (P2P)(or other distributed) network environment. The communication device 400may be a UE, eNB, PC, a tablet PC, a STB, a PDA, a mobile telephone, asmartphone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or anycommunication device capable of executing instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that communicationdevice. Further, while only a single communication device isillustrated, the term “communication device” shall also be taken toinclude any collection of communication devices that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloudcomputing, software as a service (SaaS), and other computer clusterconfigurations.

Examples, as described herein, may include, or may operate on, logic ora number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangibleentities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operations andmay be configured or arranged in a certain manner. In an example,circuits may be arranged (e.g., internally or with respect to externalentities such as other circuits) in a specified manner as a module. Inan example, the whole or part of one or more computer systems (e.g., astandalone, client or server computer system) or one or more hardwareprocessors may be configured by firmware or software (e.g.,instructions, an application portion, or an application) as a modulethat operates to perform specified operations. In an example, thesoftware may reside on a communication device-readable medium. In anexample, the software, when executed by the underlying hardware of themodule, causes the hardware to perform the specified operations.

Accordingly, the term “module” is understood to encompass a tangibleentity, be that an entity that is physically constructed, specificallyconfigured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily (e.g., transitorily)configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a specified manner or toperform part or all of any operation described herein. Consideringexamples in which modules are temporarily configured, each of themodules need not be instantiated at any one moment in time. For example,where the modules comprise a general-purpose hardware processorconfigured using software, the general-purpose hardware processor may beconfigured as respective different modules at different times. Thesoftware may accordingly configure a hardware processor, for example, toconstitute a particular module at one instance of time and to constitutea different module at a different instance of time.

Communication device (e.g., UE) 400 may include a hardware processor 402(e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit(GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a mainmemory 404, a static memory 406, and mass storage 407 (e.g., hard drive,tape drive, flash storage, or other block or storage devices), some orall of which may communicate with each other via an interlink (e.g.,bus) 408.

The communication device 400 may further include a display device 410,an alphanumeric input device 412 (e.g., a keyboard), and a userinterface (UI) navigation device 414 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, thedisplay device 410, input device 412 and UI navigation device 414 may bea touchscreen display. The communication device 400 may additionallyinclude a signal generation device 418 (e.g., a speaker), a networkinterface device 420, and one or more sensors 421, such as a globalpositioning system (GPS) sensor, compass, accelerometer, or anothersensor. The communication device 400 may include an output controller428, such as a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, orother wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication(NEC), etc.) connection to communicate or control one or more peripheraldevices (e.g., a printer, card reader, etc.).

The storage device 407 may include a communication device-readablemedium 422, on which is stored one or more sets of data structures orinstructions 424 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one ormore of the techniques or functions described herein. In some aspects,registers of the processor 402, the main memory 404, the static memory406, and/or the mass storage 407 may be, or include (completely or atleast partially), the device-readable medium 422, on which is stored theone or more sets of data structures or instructions 424, embodying orutilized by any one or more of the techniques or functions describedherein. In an example, one or any combination of the hardware processor402, the main memory 404, the static memory 406, or the mass storage 416may constitute the device-readable medium 422.

As used herein, the term “device-readable medium” is interchangeablewith “computer-readable medium” or “machine-readable medium”. While thecommunication device-readable medium 422 is illustrated as a singlemedium, the term “communication device-readable medium” may include asingle medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributeddatabase, and/or associated caches and servers) configured to store theone or more instructions 424.

The term “communication device-readable medium” is inclusive of theterms “machine-readable medium” or “computer-readable medium”, and mayinclude any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carryinginstructions (e.g.; instructions 424) for execution by the communicationdevice 400 and that cause the communication device 400 to perform anyone or more of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that iscapable of storing, encoding or carrying data structures used by orassociated with such instructions. Non-limiting communicationdevice-readable medium examples may include solid-state memories andoptical and magnetic media. Specific examples of communicationdevice-readable media may include: non-volatile memory, such assemiconductor memory devices (e.g., Electrically Programmable Read-OnlyMemory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory(EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internalhard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; Random AccessMemory (RANT); and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. In some examples,communication device-readable media may include non-transitorycommunication device-readable media. In some examples, communicationdevice-readable media may include communication device-readable mediathat is not a transitory propagating signal.

The instructions 424 may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 426 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device 420 utilizing any one of a number of transferprotocols. In an example, the network interface device 420 may includeone or more physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) orone or more antennas to connect to the communications network 426. In anexample, the network interface device 420 may include a plurality ofantennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one ofsingle-input-multiple-output (SIMO), MIMO, ormultiple-input-single-output (MISO) techniques. In some examples, thenetwork interface device 420 may wirelessly communicate using MultipleUser MIMO techniques.

The term “transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangiblemedium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying instructions forexecution by the communication device 400, and includes digital oranalog communications signals or another intangible medium to facilitatecommunication of such software. In this regard, a transmission medium inthe context of this disclosure is a device-readable medium.

A communication device-readable medium may be provided by a storagedevice or other apparatus which is capable of hosting data in anon-transitory format. In an example, information stored or otherwiseprovided on a communication device-readable medium may be representativeof instructions, such as instructions themselves or a format from whichthe instructions may be derived. This format from which the instructionsmay be derived may include source code, encoded instructions (e.g., incompressed or encrypted form), packaged instructions (e.g., split intomultiple packages), or the like. The information representative of theinstructions in the communication device-readable medium may beprocessed by processing circuitry into the instructions to implement anyof the operations discussed herein. For example, deriving theinstructions from the information (e.g., processing by the processingcircuitry) may include: compiling (e.g., from source code, object code,etc.), interpreting, loading, organizing (e.g., dynamically orstatically linking), encoding, decoding, encrypting, unencrypting,packaging, unpackaging, or otherwise manipulating the information intothe instructions.

In an example, the derivation of the instructions may include assembly,compilation, or interpretation of the information (e.g., by theprocessing circuitry) to create the instructions from some intermediateor preprocessed format provided by the machine-readable medium. Theinformation, when provided in multiple parts, may be combined, unpacked,and modified to create the instructions. For example, the informationmay be in multiple compressed source code packages (or object code, orbinary executable code, etc.) on one or several remote servers. Thesource code packages may be encrypted when in transit over a network anddecrypted, uncompressed, assembled (e.g., linked) if necessary, andcompiled or interpreted (e.g., into a library, stand-alone executableetc.) at a local machine, and executed by the local machine.

Although an aspect has been described with reference to specificexemplary aspects, it will be evident that various modifications andchanges may be made to these aspects without departing from the broaderscope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the specification anddrawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictivesense. This Detailed Description, therefore, is not to be taken in alimiting sense, and the scope of various aspects is defined only by theappended claims, along with the full range of equivalents to which suchclaims are entitled.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus of a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: processing circuitry, wherein to configure the UE for New Radio (NR) communications and to determine physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) assignment, the processing circuitry is to: decode higher layer signaling received from a base station, the higher layer signaling including radio resource control (RRC) signaling with configuration information of a PDCCH search space set, the configuration information including a search space set index identifying the PDCCH search space set, a PDCCH monitoring periodicity, a PDCCH monitoring offset, and a PDCCH monitoring duration indicating a number of slots in the identified PDCCH search space set; monitor slots of the PDCCH search space set for PDCCH candidates using the PDCCH monitoring periodicity, the PDCCH monitoring offset, and the PDCCH monitoring duration; upon detecting the PDCCH candidates within the PDCCH search space set, decode uplink (UL) resource information within downlink control information (DCI) of the PDCCH candidates; and encode data for transmission on a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) based on the UL resource information; and memory coupled to the processing circuitry, the memory configured to store the configuration information.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the PDCCH search space set identified by the search space set index is associated with a single control resource set (CORESET).
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the configuration information in the RRC signaling includes a PDCCH monitoring pattern within the slots, the PDCCH monitoring pattern indicating a first symbol of at least one control resource set (CORESET) within the PDCCH monitoring duration.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a number of slots within the PDCCH monitoring duration includes 2 or more slots.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the PDCCH search space set is a common search space (CSS) or a UE-specific search space (USS).
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the PDCCH monitoring duration is defined over a set of configured PDCCH monitoring occasions.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the UL resource information comprises slot format indication (SFI), the PDCCH monitoring periodicity is a short monitoring periodicity comprising one or two slots, the SFI indicates a slot format for a number of slots larger than the short monitoring periodicity, and the processing circuitry is to: skip monitoring the PDCCH search space set until a first monitoring occasion that occurs after the number of slots indicated by the SFI.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising transceiver circuitry coupled to the processing circuitry; and, one or more antennas coupled to the transceiver circuitry.
 9. An apparatus of a base station (BS), the apparatus comprising: processing circuitry, wherein to configure a User Equipment (UE) for New Radio (NR) communications, the processing circuitry is to: encode higher layer signaling, the higher layer signaling comprising radio resource control (RRC) signaling with configuration information of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) search space set, the configuration information including a search space set index identifying the PDCCH search space set, a PDCCH monitoring periodicity, a PDCCH monitoring offset, and a PDCCH monitoring duration indicating a number of slots in the PDCCH search space set; encode downlink control information (DCI) with uplink (UL) resource information, the DCI for transmission to the UE using one or more PDCCH transmission occasions within the PDCCH search space set and based on the PDCCH monitoring periodicity, the PDCCH monitoring offset, and the PDCCH monitoring duration; decode UL data received from the UE via a resource of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and further based on the UL resource information; and memory coupled to the processing circuitry, the memory configured to store the configuration information.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the PDCCH search space set identified by the search space set index is associated with a single control resource set (CORESET).
 11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the UL resource information includes slot format indication (SFI) for the number of slots in the PDCCH monitoring duration.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the configuration information in the RRC signaling includes a PDCCH monitoring pattern within the slots, the monitoring pattern indicating a first symbol of at least one control resource set (CORESET) within the PDCCH monitoring duration.
 13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the number of slots within the PDCCH monitoring duration includes 2 or more slots.
 14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE) operating in a 5G network, the instructions to configure the one or more processors for New Radio (NR) communications and to cause the UE to: decode higher layer signaling received from a base station, the higher layer signaling including radio resource control (RRC) signaling with configuration information of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) search space set, the configuration information including a search space set index identifying the PDCCH search space set, a PDCCH monitoring periodicity, a PDCCH monitoring offset, and a PDCCH monitoring duration indicating a number of slots in the identified PDCCH search space set; monitor slots of the PDCCH search space set for PDCCH candidates using the PDCCH monitoring periodicity, the PDCCH monitoring offset, and the PDCCH monitoring duration; upon detecting the PDCCH candidates within the PDCCH search space set, decode uplink (UL) resource information within downlink control information (DCI) of the PDCCH candidates; and encode data for transmission on a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) based on the UL resource information.
 15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the configuration information in the RRC signaling includes a PDCCH monitoring pattern within the slots, the monitoring pattern indicating a first symbol of at least one control resource set (CORESET) within the PDCCH monitoring duration.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the number of slots within the PDCCH monitoring duration includes 2 or more slots.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the UL resource information includes slot format indication (SFI) for a resource, and the instructions further cause the UE to: encode the data for transmission on the PUSCH using the resource, when the SFI indicates the resource as an UL slot.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the PDCCH monitoring periodicity is a short monitoring periodicity comprising one or two slots, the SFI indicates a slot format for a number of slots larger than the short monitoring periodicity, and the instructions further cause the UE to: skip monitoring the PDCCH search space set until a first monitoring occasion that occurs after the number of slots indicated by the SFI. 